Path (computing)

A path (or filepath, file path, pathname, or similar) is a string that uniquely identifies an item in a hierarchical file system. Generally, a path is composed of directory names, special format specifiers, and optionally a filename, all separated by delimiters. This delimiter can vary by operating system, but popular, modern systems use the slash /, backslash \, or colon :.

The case-sensitivity of individual path components will vary based on operating system, or based on options specified at the time of a file system's creation or first use. In practice, this means that for a case-sensitive system, path components named component1 and Component1 can coexist at the same level in the hierarchy, whereas for a case-insensitive file system, they cannot (an error will occur). macOS and Windows' native file systems are case-insensitive by default, whereas typical Linux file systems are case-sensitive.

A path can be either relative or absolute. A relative path is a path in relation to another, most often the working directory. An absolute path indicates a location regardless of the current directory; that is, it specifies all path components starting from the file system's root, and does not depend on context like a relative path does.

Paths are also essential for locating hierarchically-organized network resources, as seen in URLs and UNC paths.